Learn Hardcore Turkish: Bazen kimsenin beni anlamadığını düşünüyorum. - Sometimes I think that nobody understands me.

Turkish likes to put the main verb at the end, so the “that-clause” (that nobody understands me) comes right before düşünüyorum, instead of after “I think” as in English.

What does bazen mean exactly, and where can it appear in the sentence?

Bazen means sometimes.

In this sentence, the most neutral and common place is at the beginning:

Bazen kimsenin beni anlamadığını düşünüyorum.

You can move it a bit, for example:

Ben bazen kimsenin beni anlamadığını düşünüyorum.
(Adding ben for emphasis on “I”.)
Kimsenin beni anlamadığını bazen düşünüyorum.
(Grammatically OK; a little more emphasis on the thinking happens sometimes.)

Key points:

Bazen is an adverb of frequency, so it is fairly flexible in position.
It usually comes before the part it logically modifies (the whole idea “I think that nobody understands me”).
You normally keep the block kimsenin beni anlamadığını together as a unit before düşünüyorum.

What does kimse mean, and why do we see kimsenin here?

Kimse is an indefinite pronoun. Its meaning depends on context:

with a negative verb: nobody / no one
in questions: anybody / anyone

In this sentence it appears as kimsenin:

kimse
- -nin (genitive case) → kimsenin

So kimsenin literally means “of nobody” or “nobody’s”.

We use the genitive here because in Turkish, in these -DIK (nominalized) clauses, the logical subject is put in the genitive:

Ali’nin geldiğini biliyorum.
= I know that Ali came / is coming.
(Literally: I know Ali’s coming.)

In the same way:

kimsenin beni anlamadığını
≈ “nobody’s not-understanding-me” → “that nobody understands me”.

Why do we need the genitive–possessive structure kimsenin ... anlamadığını?

This is a standard Turkish pattern:

[Subject in genitive] + [verb with -DIK + possessive]

It turns a whole clause into a noun phrase, the object of düşünüyorum.

Pattern:

X’in Y-diğ-i-ni düşünüyorum.
= I think that X does Y.

Examples:

Ali’nin beni anladığını düşünüyorum.
= I think that Ali understands me.
Kimsenin beni anlamadığını düşünüyorum.
= I think that nobody understands me.

Here:

kimsenin – genitive (“of nobody”) → subject of the embedded clause
anlamadığını – verb turned into a noun-like word with -DIK + 3rd person possessive
Together they form something like “nobody’s not-understanding (me)”, i.e. “the fact that nobody understands me”.

This whole chunk kimsenin beni anlamadığını is then the direct object of düşünüyorum (“I think [this]”).

Why is it beni and not ben or bana?

Personal pronouns in Turkish change form according to case:

ben – I (subject)
beni – me (direct object, accusative)
bana – to me (indirect object, dative)

The verb anlamak (to understand) takes a direct object, so you need the accusative:

Beni anlıyor musun? – Do you understand me?
Kimsenin beni anlamadığını düşünüyorum. – I think that nobody understands me.

Using bana would suggest something like “it makes sense to me” (different structure/verb), which is not the meaning here.

Also, when the direct object is a personal pronoun and is specific, Turkish practically always marks it with accusative: beni, seni, onu, etc.

How is the word anlamadığını built, piece by piece?

Anlamadığını is a compressed form that corresponds to an English “that (he/she/they) don’t understand”.

Rough breakdown:

anla- – root meaning understand
-ma- – negation: not
-DIK- – nominalizing suffix that makes a verb into a “that …” clause; here it surfaces as -dığ- because of vowel harmony and consonant softening
-ı – 3rd person singular possessive (his/her/its)
-nı – accusative case (with buffer -n- after a vowel)

So:

anla – understand
anlama- – not understand
anlamadık- → anlamadığ- (sound change)
anlamadığ-ı – “his/her/its not-understanding”
anlamadığ-ı-nı – that (thing), in accusative → anlamadığını

Functionally, anlamadığını = “(his/her/their) not understanding”, i.e. “that (he/she/they) don’t understand.”

Combined with kimsenin:

kimsenin anlamadığını
= that nobody understands.

If -dı usually marks past tense, why does anlamadığını here mean “doesn’t understand” rather than “didn’t understand”?

In these -DIK clauses, the -DI part is not a simple, straightforward past tense the way it is in finite verbs.

With -DIK + possessive, time reference is often:

relative, and
determined by context or any extra tense markers that appear before -DIK.

Compare:

Onun geldiğini biliyorum.
→ I know he came / has come / is coming.
The exact tense in English depends on context.

Similarly:

Kimsenin beni anlamadığını düşünüyorum.
can be understood as:
- “I think that nobody understands me.” (general / present)
- or, in the right context, “I think that nobody understood me.” (past situation)

In everyday use, with düşünüyorum in the present, learners usually interpret it as present-time: “nobody understands me.”

Could we say Bazen düşünüyorum ki kimse beni anlamıyor instead? What’s the difference?

Yes, you can say:

Bazen düşünüyorum ki kimse beni anlamıyor.

This is grammatical and natural, especially in spoken language.

Differences:

Original: Bazen kimsenin beni anlamadığını düşünüyorum.
- Uses a -DIK nominalized clause.
- Slightly more neutral / standard; very typical of everyday Turkish.
With ki: Bazen düşünüyorum ki kimse beni anlamıyor.
- Uses ki as a conjunction, like English “that”.
- Feels a bit more colloquial or emotional, sometimes with a sense of “you know, sometimes I think that…”.

Meaning-wise, both are close: “Sometimes I think that nobody understands me.”

Can the parts of the sentence be reordered, and does that change the meaning?

Turkish word order is quite flexible, but some orderings are more natural.

All of these are possible (same basic meaning, different emphasis):

Bazen kimsenin beni anlamadığını düşünüyorum.
(Most neutral.)
Ben bazen kimsenin beni anlamadığını düşünüyorum.
(Extra emphasis on ben = “I, for my part, sometimes think …”.)
Kimsenin beni anlamadığını bazen düşünüyorum.
(Emphasis that the thinking happens sometimes.)
Bazen beni kimsenin anlamadığını düşünüyorum.
(Emphasis slightly more on beni = “me”.)

General rules:

Keep the chunk kimsenin beni anlamadığını together as much as possible; it is one embedded clause.
Bazen can move, but its position can change what it most naturally modifies (the thinking vs. the understanding). The overall message stays similar, though.

What is the difference between Bazen kimsenin beni anlamadığını düşünüyorum and Bazen kimse beni anlamıyor?

Both can be translated as something like “Sometimes I feel like nobody understands me.”, but the nuance is different:

Bazen kimsenin beni anlamadığını düşünüyorum.
- Literally: Sometimes I think that nobody understands me.
- Emphasizes your thought/feeling about the situation.
- Slightly more tentative or introspective.
Bazen kimse beni anlamıyor.
- Literally: Sometimes nobody understands me.
- Stated more as a fact or complaint about reality.
- No explicit “I think”; it sounds more direct.

So the first talks about your opinion/feeling, the second about the situation itself.

Is kimsenin ... anlamadığını considered a double negative in Turkish? Is that okay?

In English, something like “nobody doesn’t understand me” is a true double negative and sounds wrong (or has a different, ironic meaning).

In Turkish, however, negative concord is normal:

The pronoun kimse / hiç kimse is used with a negative verb in negative sentences.
The negative is carried by the verb (or verbal form), and kimse fits naturally into that negative environment.

Examples:

Kimse gelmedi. – Nobody came.
Hiç kimse beni aramıyor. – Nobody is calling me.

So in:

kimsenin beni anlamadığını

the negative is in anlamadığını (-ma-), and kimsenin is the subject of that negative verb. This is normal and correct in Turkish, not a “wrong” double negative.

How would I say “Sometimes I think that I don’t understand anyone” in Turkish, and how is it different from the original sentence?

You would say:

Bazen kimseyi anlamadığımı düşünüyorum.

Breakdown:

kimseyi – kimse
- -yi (accusative) → anyone / anybody as a direct object
anlamadığımı – “that I don’t understand”
- anla- – understand
- -ma- – not
- -DIK- – nominalizer
- -ım – 1st person singular possessive (my) → “my not-understanding” = “that I don’t understand”

Compare the two sentences:

Bazen kimsenin beni anlamadığını düşünüyorum.
= Sometimes I think that nobody understands me.
- Subject of the embedded clause: kimse (nobody)
- Object: beni (me)
Bazen kimseyi anlamadığımı düşünüyorum.
= Sometimes I think that I don’t understand anyone.
- Subject of the embedded clause: (ben), encoded in -ım on anlamadığımı
- Object: kimseyi (anyone)

So the roles switch: in the original, you are the one not being understood; in the new sentence, you are the one who doesn’t understand others.